Has Anyone Heard from DGoddessChardonnay?

[catcul]

I don't know how many people have heard, but a tornado struck Greensboro last Sunday. Unfortunately, it looks like it struck her side of the city. I was wondering if she is doing well.

[protege]

I'm friends with her on Facebook. She's OK, but has been without power for a bit.

[catcul]

Thanks for letting me know.

[protege]

You're very welcome. I get nervous when friends suddenly disappear.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I see I've been missed . . . .

Yeah, unfortunately the tornado wasn't the only thing going on around here in recent weeks.

We've got some damage to the house . . . .roof needs to be redone now (been needing it for a few years since the last time was around 1995 but old owners kept putting it off, now the new owners have to deal with that, but I digress) and we have damage to at least 2 storm windows, both front and back storm doors are damaged (the plexiglass sheet that was installed in the front door blew out during the tornado and landed in the living room.) The deck is also damaged on the rear of the house and needs work, we've lost trees galore. Luckily none landed on the house but came close. The current owners (brother and sister pair) have assured us that it will be taken care of and for us not to worry about anything on the outside.

The other thing that's kept me offline (other than being without power for 3 days due to the storm and another few days without Internet or cable, which came back on the following Sunday) is that Mama DG has been sick.

Mom's illness started 3 weeks ago (the Sunday before the tornado) and we had to have her taken by ambulance to the hospital ER (not Cone, but Wesley Long, which is a much better facility, IMHO) and had her checked out. She was having severe pain in her lower right side of her back and was vomiting in the bathroom. Even after paramedics arrived, she started feeling sick again and was sick again inside the back of the ambo before we could pull away from the house.

Once there, it took a few minutes for a room to be ready, but Mom needed to go to the bathroom. So they let the gurney down enough so she could go into the ladies' room at the end of the hall by the nurses' station. By the time she was ready to come out, one of the paramedics had located an extra large wheelchair for her to sit in and a room was ready so we got her in it and onto the table.

A couple of hours later, after medical history/blood samples drawn/urine sample and a quick trip to Radiology for a CT scan, we found out what was going on - kidney stones in the right kidney.

Bad part of that was that the mass was so large, that it had stopped her kidney from functioning and it was almost ready to rupture because it couldn't drain!

A urologisy resident came in and explained that they'd need to take her to surgery that evening to get a stint installed and run a tube from her kidney to a bag to drain out the infection and get her on antibiotics ASAP. She was also waiting on pain meds, which the ER on call was trying to get for her. We had to wait another hour for that, as the doctor forgot to sent the order in.

I left to come home around 5:30 once the pain meds were in her and she was starting to feel better. I sent a text to our old friend, New Meat (who is now staying with us as he has lost his long time residence, which in short the lady he rented from died last December and her daughters put the condo up for sale. They only gave him until the end of Feburary to move and he's waiting on Section 8 voucher so he can get into a unit nearby that's for low income persons 55 and older. But as he has no family here now - his longtime fiance Zoom Zoom passed away 3 years ago - he didn't want to leave Greensboro, so he's with us for a spell.)

Mom stayed in the hospital until Saturday, when the ambulance brought her home just after 7 that evening. She still had the tube and bag attached and could only lie flat on her back. We had been told there would be help coming in during the week from home nurses and physical therapists - which we had to call back on Sunday morning to find out if that had been finalized and when it would start. Went to the drug store, only to find that the pharmacy wasn't open until 10 (it was almost 9 and the hospital had sent 6 scripts that needed to be filled ASAP including new insulin.) Went to the nearest 24 hr location, go the meds and got Mom started on her new regimen and took care of breakfast, laundry and getting her bed changed.

Right after 5, we were in Mom's room catching up on our weekly shows on the DVR and I had just put in something in the microwave for my brother. The timer went off, and just before I was going to get up to get it out (I was in the middle of a level on Fishdom on my phone) I saw a tornado waning come up on my phone.

I clicked it off, got off the bed and before I could turn around, the power went out. Just as I was about to tell Mom about the warning, we heard the wind pick up, we heard the rain bearing down and then the rumbling . . . and my brother was screaming "TORNADO COMING!!!!!"

Mom and I both froze . . . she couldn't move off the bed and I had no way to get her up to get her into the bathroom, so I crouched down at the foot of her bed, my phone under my arms and holding onto her as best I could. At the same time we're both screaming at my brother to get into the bathroom, but all he could do was scream from the dining room. We heard the wind roaring and heard the breaking of glass, snapping of trees.

New Meat came through from the back of the house and called for my brother, but before they could get in there, it stopped. Everything went eerily quiet just as fast as it came. Our roof was still on, our house was still standing. I went into the dining room, still shaking to see what had happened. The plexiglass sheet from the front storm door had blown out and was in the living room floor. We saw from the front door debris in the yard and the road . . . sections of one of our maple trees was blocking the walkway, another section of tree had broken off and was lying across the other end of the walkway near the road.

From what I could see checking the back door, a doghouse was lying in the yard, the roof in one place, the body of it a few feet away. One of the rear storm windows was missing glass, the rear storm door was caved in at the bottom of the frame. One of the storm windows over the kitchen sink is also broken out. I quickly stopped shaking and sent a text to the owner to let him know what happened. I then called my Dad, but got only voicemail, so I nervously typed out a text and sent it while New Meat went outside to see what kind of damage was done.

The owner called back and I tried to explain what happened. His first question was if everyone was okay - we were, just trying to wrap out heads around this and stop shaking.

Went to the front porch and looked around. Neighbors were coming out, all like me - totally shocked and trying to absorb the reality of the situation. Trees down everywhere, some crashed into homes. One house on the opposite side of the road had a huge tree that had uprooted and was lying across the front porch and completely blocked any exit from the front door of it. Part of it's split rail fencing was down as well. Another house just past the beauty shop on the corner diagonally across from me (I can see the side of that property from the porch chairs) had a tree fall across the roof. Two houses up the road another tree laid over a roof. I could hear the faint sound of emergency sirens as they raced to the area to help.

All that night we saw police officers at the intersection handling traffic, our road had been blocked off. Fire trucks roamed the streets later that evening in the darkness with search lights on. New Meat had went out in search of something for us for dinner . . . he had to drive halfway across town to find a McD's as everything on our side of town was dark. I had sent a quick text to both managers at work to let them know of the tornado and I would have to take tomorrow off (I had already worked it out to take the upcoming Thursday off, as Mom was going back to Wesley Long to have surgery to remove the kidney stones as the infection was clearing away) and turned off my phone to conserve battery.

The next day, everything looked worse than before. Had a nurse come to do an initial assessment of Mom's condition, as well as a physical therapist (or was it the occupational therapist? She's got one of each coming now 3 days a week.) We also had city crews out clearing away debris from the roads and what couple of times I did turn on my phone for quick news updates, there were almost 30,000 without power and several other neighborhoods in East Greensboro had been ravaged as well. Three elementary schools are damaged (one not far from me) and classes cancelled. People were coming door to door to check on neighbors and see what they needed.

Tuesday I went back to work and came home to find the dining room table covered with lunch bags of sandwiches, a bag of oranges, a case of water and assorted snacks. Turned out they were brought by a group that were going through the neighborhood helping out with tornado relief and providing food to residents in the damaged areas (whoever you folks are, THANK YOU for your kindness.) Phillips Avenue was still blocked off (had been since Sunday evening, as trees were completely block the roadway and the substation was down, as well as power lines ripped up and mass destruction of homes.) Laundry was still piling up, including towels and bed covers, as we were trying to keep Mom changed and cleaned up as best we could.

Wednesday was more of the same. Came home from work and Mom was upset - owners had come back and said they would have to cut down the big maple tree that sat in the corner of the front yard. Grandma Tree, as we called her, was probably as old as the house (and our house is over 90 yrs old ) and was rotting from the inside out. It's a wonder the tornado didn't uproot her, but they didn't want to take a chance and another storm do that. They also offered to plant another tree in its place - whatever kind Mom wanted. So far we haven't decided what to put there, we're still discussing it as of today.

And the power finally came back on Wednesday night, so first thing done was the laundry was started up. Phone was plugged up to the charging cable and I was up and down all night (besides Mom keeping me up every little bit, I may have gotten 3 hrs sleep total.) I had to be up at 3 a.m. to get the cats fed, eat something and get dressed and Mom ready so we could be back at the hospital by 5:30 for her surgery (which was set for 7:30 a.m..) The ambulance transport arrive roughly at 4:40 am. and we had Mom loaded up and we were on the way by right after 5.

That was one long day, and we had issues from the time we got there. It took 3 different people to get blood drawn, as it turned out Mom's veins weren't cooperating. Finally got her downstairs to surgery right after 7, at which point I went downstairs first to the cafeteria for coffee, then went back up to the waiting area.

Surgeon found me right before 10:30 to let me know the surgery went well, but they had a late start due to not being able to get a vein to work for the IV so they had to use a vein in Mom's neck. He gave me a color photograph of the kidney that showed the mass before removal - it was pretty sizeable and no way that this could have passed. The stones he had saved in a small medicine bottle and gave to me as well. He said Mom was being taken to recovery and then it may be an hour or hour and a half before they would take her upstairs and I could see her.

That hour and a half stretched until almost 2 in the afternoon, by this time I'm anxious and getting rather impatient with the "ten more minutes" routine that had been playing out since 12:30. I was given a room number around 1, but still told it would be a few more minutes. Had enough by 2, took the pager back to the desk, left it and told them I was done waiting and went straight for the elevators. Did I mention by this time I had very little to eat and only coffee to run off of? When I'm worried, I can't eat. But if I go too long without eating, I get sick, irritable and, if not still treated, headache sets in, dizziness and I'm ready to go off on anyone at any second.

Got upstairs to her room and two nurses were getting her settled and New Meat was at the door already. Needless to say, by this time I was pretty upset with the waiting and the non communication. Mom was still a bit woozy from the anethsestia but okay otherwise. I stayed for a few minutes and went home.

Got home, fixed something to eat and tried to crash for a while. Mom called a short while later, she was feeling much better (the drugs had finally worn off and she had dinner.) There was another CT scan set for the next morning and then she'd know more about when she'd come home.

Next evening (Friday) she came home right after 6:30 and had a larger tube in her back with a larger bag to catch the drainage. Needless to say, last weekend was rough, as she wasn't getting up off the bed (kinda hard to move around with a tube in your back) but had an appointment for Monday morning to go back and get it removed.

On Saturday, I spent 3 hours on the phone trying to get Mom's insulin replaced, which we lost due to the 3 day power loss. Called the drugstore and the pharmacist suggested sending in a new script. So I contacted the family practice and an hour later, heard back from the doctor on call. Explained the situation and asked if we could get that taken care of (Mom had been without her insulin since she came home from the hopsital the day before and the new script we'd picked up the previous Sunday was tossed due to the storm and power loss.) Doctor asssured me she would be right on that, so got that much done. Or so we thought.

Called back to the drugstore an hour later, they'd gotten the new script but the insurance was still kicking it out, saying it was too soon. Luckily, I had a recent letter (still unopened ) from the medicare drug plan, so I called the number on that letter and got hold of a customer service representative and, with Mom also on the phone with him, we got results. It took us being on hold nearly an hour to get the override approved but, after 2 other senior employees got involved with the initial rep, it was finally done. Had the approval and, as New Meat wasn't back yet (our car is in the shop and is waiting for us to pick it up) I set off on foot to the drugstore to pick it up. Made it home a short time later (took maybe 10 minutes to walk there and another 10 minutes back) and had the box of pens in my purse.

On Monday, Mom went back to the urologists office (had to call for ambulance transport and they wouldn't let me book the evening before - I had to call from work at 8 a.m. to have the ride dispatched as her appointment was at 9:30.) They got the tube and bag off and checked the incision - it looked good, no infection and was doing well. She has to go back in another month for follow up (I can't recall if it's already set or if she has to call back on Monday and get that set up, but I'll remind her tomorrow morning when I call home to check on her) and still has to follow up with her primary doctor on the meds (her meds were switched around while she was in the hopsital and a couple of them she has been taken off of, so her primary needs to look at the current lineup to see if it's okay.)

Since the tube came out, Mom's been getting more mobile in her chair. The nurses have been coming this week (except for Thursday, as Mom was in bed all day due to overdoing it on Tuesday and Wednesday and didn't feel up to the visit. She should be back on Monday morning.) The physical therapist came Friday and was working with her on excersices to build her legs up (the occupational therapists also works with her as well - they were working on arm excercises for her arms earlier this week.)

So far we've seen several people around the house looking at the damage. Insurance adjustors have been all over the neighborhood, we've got tarps on just about every roof in the 'hood. Trees have been cut down (they were gone a week ago Thursday while I was at the hopsital for Mom's surgery - came home and Grandma Tree was gone, as was several others in the backyard) and we're waiting for the ground to dry out (we've had more rain this past week) so we can get the rest of the mess up out of the yard and have our yard guy back mowing and trimming (he had called the week before the tornado and I had left him a message to tell him he could come as soon as he could get us worked into the schedule.)

And I'm trying to get more rest . . . I've been running on empty the last 3 weeks or so to the point where I've just about been sick myself. This has been the first weekend in a month where I've been able to get done pretty much what I need to without feeling run down.

And let me tell you guys about the new kitties . . . which I'll save for another thread.

[Blue Ginger]

Sending you hugs and cookies and your preferred drink.

Very glad that everyone is ok and that your house is still mostly in one piece. It sounds absolutely terrifying to be in the middle of that.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Yeah but apart from that,you haven't really been up to much lately....��

[catcul]

I knew the tornado hit your side of Greensboro. I'm sorry that all that happened around you. Hopefully, everything will be sorted out soon.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Yeah but apart from that,you haven't really been up to much lately....��

Not as far as encountering sucky customers, as I'm usually in the back room. When I'm out on the floor working, the occurrences are less often. Mostly my gripes are with sorry coworkers, but I'll stop over to COC to share those.

As well as dealing with recurrent neck/shoulder pain in my "spare" time (what there is of it.) Went back to my ortho (who I've been going to for over 20 years now) and nothing more serious than tendenitis in my right shoulder - got a short of cortosteriod and was told to call back in a couple of weeks if I didn't notice any difference.

I knew the tornado hit your side of Greensboro. I'm sorry that all that happened around you. Hopefully, everything will be sorted out soon.

Unfortunately the recovery process has slowed here . . . we've seen people coming around our home to look at what needs to be done. Other than that, no actual work has begun yet. Our weather hasn't exactly been cooperating, as we've had heavy rains middle of week before last, this past week has been drying out and right now, we have more rain showers.

The owners came by Friday afternoon while the therapist was here working with Mom and looked around. What I could understand of what the brother said is that he's looking into why the work hasn't begun yet and not worry, it would start soon. His sister seemed disappointed as well that no work (other than what was done yard wise with the tree removal/cleanup) has happened. Hopefully this week will see some progress.

But it's not just my home (or the others on my block that are owned by the same family) it's others in the neighborhood. One of the local news stations has looked into it and apparently has to do with what our part of town is listed in some computer software as being worth land and property-wise and that the companies who have been hired to work on these neighborhoods aren't going to be making any money (or as some interviewed has stated they would lose money) due to what the land and house values are listed as being, as opposed to the same type of damage happening in different areas of the state.

http://myfox8.com/2018/05/03/contrac...nado-recovery/

Could be a long while before we see progress here . . . which is a shame. If we lived in Charlotte or Raleigh, we might have seen some more progress sooner.

And as soon as I get a chance to take pics of the new kitties with my phone, I'll share some pics. We've got quite a few this spring, and speaking of which, there's been yet another kitty that has shown up here. My brother discovered it underneath the deck - he finally got hold of it late yesterday and brought it in and handed it off to Gidget (hers are almost weaned and she's still babysitting for both Monkey-Monk and Buttermilk.) I still haven't seen this little one since I saw it underneath the deck - it's dark gray and looks about the size of the others indoors.
Pen's little one, Cricket, is now joining the big kitties at the food plates and will get onto the plate to eat.

Other than that (and Mom is getting better and around the house more - YAY!) we're toodling along.

Of course now that we've got another severe storm warning, I'm getting a little unseasy . . .

[EricKei]

Eek. We were narrowly missed by at least one tornado here a few weeks ago/early April o_O Tornado (air raid) sirens all over town came on full force, tornado warnings started popping up on my phone when I was still a good ten minutes from home...Turns out a twister did touch down close enough to do damage, but no reported major injuries. 8 total hit the state that day.

I hope everything works out OK for all of y'all, and I wish Mama DG all the best!